Research ActivitiesPurdue Research Suggests Approach toTreat Virus Causing Respiratory Illness,Possible Paralysis in Children

New research findings
point toward a class
of compounds that
could be effective in
combating infections
caused by enterovirus D68, which has
stricken children with
serious respiratory
infections and might
be associated with
polio-like symptoms
in the United States
and elsewhere.

The researchers have
used a technique called X-ray crystallography to learn the precise structure
of the original strain of EV-D68 on its own and when bound to an anti-viral
compound called “pleconaril.” The ongoing research could lead to the development of drugs that inhibit infections caused by the most recent strains of the
virus, says Michael G. Rossmann, Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological
Sciences at Purdue University.

A molecule called a “pocket factor” is located within a pocket of the virus’s
protective shell, called the capsid. When the virus binds to a human cell, the
pocket factor is squeezed out of its pocket, resulting in the destabilization of the
virus particle, which then disintegrates and releases its genetic material to infect
the cell and to replicate itself.

The antiviral compound pleconaril also binds into the pocket,
inhibiting infection. “The compound and the normal pocket
factor compete with each other for binding into the pocket,”
Rossmann said. “They are both hydrophobic, and they both like
to get away from water by going into the pocket. But which of
these is going to win depends on the pocket itself, the pocket
factor and properties of the antiviral compound.”
The findings are detailed in a paper appearing in the journal
Science. The paper was authored by Yue Liu, a graduate student;

A video interview with Rossmann and Liu is available athttp://youtu.be/EXA01c0WL5o. Study: Farmers andScientists Divided OverClimate Change

Crop producers and scientists hold deeply
different views on climate change and its
possible causes, a study by Purdue and Iowa
State universities shows.

A team led by Linda Prokopy, associate
professor of natural resource social science,
surveyed 6,795 people in the agricultural
sector in 2011-2012 to determine their beliefs
about climate change and whether variation
in the climate is triggered by human activities, natural causes or an equal combination
of both.

More than 90 percent of the 173 scientists and climatologists surveyed said they
believed climate change was occurring, with
more than 50 percent attributing climate
change primarily to human activities. An
additional 30 percent said they believed
climate change was due to a combination of
human activities and natural causes.

In contrast, 66 percent of 4,778 corn
producers surveyed said they believed
climate change was occurring, with 8 percent
pinpointing human activities as the main
cause. A quarter of producers said they
believed climate change was caused mostly
by natural shifts in the environment, and 31
percent said there was not enough evidence
to determine whether climate change was
happening or not.